Russia
says US inviting terrorists to attack its cities

[ Editor’s
Note: I
expected John Kirby’s carefully chosen comments to ignite a
firestorm, and they have. Now, even the dead will know that the US
has been a flagrant promoter of terrorism in its foreign policy.

This
is going to be one of Obama’s major stains on the legacy of his
administration. George Bush (43) cannot complain that his work was
not continued to a large extent by Mr. Nobel Peace Prize.

The
EU and NATO seem to be in lockstep with the Pentagon on the
more aggressive probing against Russia. As the Ukraine fiasco
continues to be exposed as another US and Western foreign policy
disaster, the gang that can’t shoot straight is seemingly seeking
refugee using the old “double double” tactic, where they fear
exposure and attempt one more try to frame their opponent as Mr.
Evil.

But
contemporary Russia was a poor choice, in both the people and its
current government. The continued smear tactics merely continue to
show how base and corrupt our own institutions have become, turning
America into a de facto über-gangster.

In
one way, we did not deserve this, but in another way… I look out
over the land and see only an institutional wasteland, when it comes
to pushing back against the Matrix. God help us all, as it does not
appear our institutions are going to help. As
Mike Harris so often says, “No one is coming to save us but
ourselves.” …Jim
W. Dean ]

___________

John
Kirby’s remarks were not a slip of the tongue, but carefully
crafted to send a thinly veiled threat to Moscow

–
First
published … September 29, 2016 –

Russia
has denounced US projection of possible attacks on Russian cities by
terrorists fighting in Syria, saying the statement amounts to an
invitation to terrorism.

Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was outraged on Thursday
after US State Department spokesman John Kirby said
terrorists in Syria could launch attacks “against Russian
interests, perhaps even Russian cities.”

“We
cannot interpret this as anything else apart from the current
US administration’s de facto support for terrorism,” Ryabkov
was quoted as saying.

“These
thinly disguised invitations to use terrorism as a weapon
against Russia show the political depths the current
US administration has stooped to in its approach to the Middle
East and specifically to Syria.”

Russia
has been supporting the Syrian government in its push to take
back Aleppo from Takfiri terrorists. The US also carries out
airstrikes as well as operations on the ground through its special
forces against what it calls Daesh targets.

However,
with Syrian advances on Aleppo gaining momentum, US officials
said on Wednesday that Washington had begun considering tougher
responses to the assault on Aleppo, including military options.

Syrian
army advances were interrupted first when the US brokered a ceasefire
agreement with the Russians. The truce collapsed after US aircraft
bombed Syrian army positions in Dayr al-Zawr, killing 82 soldiers.

The
airstrike, which helped Daesh briefly overrun government
positions in the area, was characterized by Washington as
unintentional but Syria rejected the allegation.

“How
could they (Daesh) know that the Americans are going to attack that
position in order to gather their militants to attack right away and
to capture it one hour after the strike?” Assad asked during an
interview with the Associated Press last week.

Supply
of new weapons

New
grad rockets

On
Wednesday, a militant commander said foreign
states have given extremists surface-to-surface Grad rockets of
a type not previously supplied to them in response to the Aleppo
offensive.

The
Grad rockets with a range of 22 km and 40 km have been supplied in
“excellent quantities” and will be used on battlefronts in
Aleppo, Hama and the coastal region, militant commander Colonel
Fares al-Bayoush told Reuters.

While
Grad missiles have previously been supplied to militants, Bayoush
said it was the first time this particular type had been delivered.
Militants had previous stocks of the rocket captured from army
stores, he added.

The
Reuters news agency this week reported anonymous US officials as
saying that the Obama administration was considering allowing
Qatar and Saudi Arabia to arm militants with man-portable
missiles.

The
Middle East Eye news portal cited a source close to militants as
saying that the US was resolved to prevent the fall of Aleppo and was
preparing to allow its Persian Gulf allies to flood the city
with shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles.

“The US
confirmed the green light to begin sending them to rebels through
supply routes still open through Jordan and Turkey,” the source
said.

“The
US won’t let Aleppo fall. We can expect to see Syrian helicopters
falling from the sky within weeks.”

On
Wednesday, the US State Department warned it was considering the
suspension of “bilateral engagement” in Syria “unless
Russia takes immediate steps to end the assault on Aleppo and restore
the cessation of hostilities.”

Ryabkov
said Moscow saw no alternative to the original
US-Russia plan to try to get a ceasefire in Syria and that
Washington should focus on implementing it.

He
said a seven-day ceasefire plan proposed by the United States
was unacceptable however and that Moscow was proposing a 48-hour
“humanitarian pause” in Aleppo instead.

Under
the agreement, the US had undertaken to segregate the militants under
its support from Takfiri groups such as the al-Qaeda-linked
Fatah al-Sham Front but it has dragged its foot on the plan.

On
Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told US
Secretary of State John Kerry during a phone conversation that Fateh
al-Sham Front had been receiving foreign support and American
weapons.

In
an interview with German-language daily Kölner
Stadt-Anzeiger earlier
this week, a Fateh al-Sham commander identified only as Abu
al-Ezz confirmed that the US is supporting the terror group,
saying, “The Americans are on our side.”

In
his conversation with Kerry, “Lavrov drew attention to the fact
that a number of anti-government units which Washington
calls moderate… were instead merging with Jabhat Fateh
al-Sham,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier
this year, the US blocked a Russian move in the United Nations to
blacklist Ahrar al-Sham militants as a terrorist group.